Azerbaijan Levels Centuries-Old Armenian Cemetery in Occupied Shushi for Wastewater Facility

A centuries-old Armenian-Russian cemetery in Shushi has been completely leveled to make way for a wastewater and stormwater treatment facility, according to Caucasus Heritage Watch, which documented the destruction through satellite imagery.

The cemetery on the eastern side of the city was destroyed between May 9 and 14, 2026, CHW said in a report published Sept. 5. The construction is part of a broader redevelopment plan for Shushi.

The burial ground contained at least 40 historic monuments spanning more than six centuries. CHW identified five Armenian khachkars, or carved cross-stones, dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, along with 35 gravestones from 1810 to 1871.

“The old Armenian-Russian cemetery of Shushi survived wars, regime changes, and nearly two centuries of history. It did not survive the city’s 21st-century redevelopment,” the organization said.

The cemetery offered a rare physical record of different periods in Shushi’s history. Gravestone inscriptions appeared in Armenian, Russian and Latin, while those buried there included members of local Armenian families, prominent goldsmiths, military personnel, doctors, civil servants and administrators of the Russian Empire.

The medieval khachkars added an older layer to the site, linking Shushi’s 19th-century population with centuries of Armenian presence in the area.

“The cemetery’s destruction erased a historic landscape that encompassed hundreds of years,” CHW said, describing the burial ground as an example of “an extraordinary continuity of memory.”

Caucasus Heritage Watch is an independent research initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor cultural heritage across the South Caucasus. Its researchers have documented damage and destruction at cultural and religious sites throughout the region.

CHW said replacing the cemetery with wastewater infrastructure erased more than individual monuments. The site had brought together evidence of medieval Armenian heritage, life under the Russian Empire and the families and professions that shaped Shushi in the 19th century.

“As the new infrastructure rises on the site, the cemetery that once connected medieval Armenian heritage, Russian imperial administration, and the lives of Shushi’s residents will now be associated with wastewater and stormwater treatment,” CHW said.

The organization called on Azerbaijani authorities to stop the destruction of heritage sites and preserve the different layers of Shushi’s history, including its Armenian cultural heritage.

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